Chicago Presbytery’s visit with Hezbollah threatens condominium tower project
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, December 19, 2005
The Chicago City Council has passed a resolution condemning a Chicago Presbytery group’s meeting with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in October, and some members of the council say they may oppose a financially lucrative rezoning request by one of the presbytery’s congregations in the city.
Fourth Presbyterian Church on North Michigan Avenue has asked the City Council to rezone some of its land for private construction of a 745-foot condominium tower. No financial terms have been revealed, but real estate along Michigan Avenue is some of the most expensive in the city.
The Chicago Tribune reported today that “two influential Chicago aldermen say they may oppose rezoning for the proposed tower” because of their anger over the delegation’s meeting with Hezbollah.
The newspaper quoted Alderman Edward Burke as saying, “I don’t know how willing I will be to vote in favor of the zoning change … at the same their leader is out meeting with Hezbollah. I think we ought to reevaluate the whole relationship.”
Burke was referring to the Rev. Bob Reynolds, the presbytery executive, who led the Presbyterian Church (USA) delegation on its trip to the Middle East. Since returning, Reynolds has expressed his regret over the trip and said Hezbollah used it for political purposes.
Another City Council member was also irate over the presbytery’s role in damaging relationships with Jews in the city. The Tribune quoted Alderman Bernard Stone, one of the council’s three Jewish members, as saying Reynolds “is not going to get any favors from me. I’ll be damned if I’ll [support] anything that would benefit someone who meets with terrorists opposed to peace in the Middle East.” Stone is a member of the city’s zoning committee.
On Dec. 14, the City Council adopted a resolution condemning Reynolds. The resolution described Hezbollah as “a terrorist organization which has attacked American embassies, hijacked an American airliner, kidnapped American hostages and is responsible for innumerable assaults on innocent people.”
Alderman Stone was quoted as saying, “”All of Chicago should be aghast that Reverend Reynolds would display such a total lack of judgment. Perhaps he should have taken the time instead to talk to the families of those many innocent people who have been killed by Hezbollah in terror attacks so that he could hear firsthand about the pain and loss that Hezbollah’s actions have brought to their families.”
Dr. John Buchanan, pastor of the 4,700-member Fourth Presbyterian congregation, urged council members not to link the rezoning request to their disdain for Reynolds.
Through a spokesman, Carolyn Grisko, Buchanan said the issues of zoning and the Hezbollah meeting “are not related because Fourth Presbyterian was not involved in that meeting.” Buchanan “considers Rev. Reynolds to be a friend and of good faith and acting out of the best of intentions. [But] he does not agree with the visit and doesn’t think there is any situation in which such a meeting would be appropriate,” Grisko said. “He has reached out to friends in the Jewish community to apologize for pain caused by the visit,” Grisko said.
Besides serving at Fourth Presbyterian, Buchanan is the editor of The Christian Century, a publication for liberal Protestants. A former General Assembly moderator, Buchanan was the co-founder of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, an organization created to oppose the denomination’s “fidelity/chastity” ordination standard.
With the condominium project at stake, the leaders of Fourth Presbyterian Church have been particularly sensitive to Jewish-Christian relationships. They registered their opposition to the PCUSA General Assembly’s 2004 resolution calling for divestment of funds in corporations that do business with Israel.